Pie cutter



c. .11. SQHIIWLOM En" m..

PIE CUTTER Fild March l0., 1921 Jaco l@ ters, and has more particularreference to a dimensions,

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Patented A May l 192m N, UNITED CHARLES d. ESHIPPLGK ANW 'lUH Mmmm), OW'Cldtil, lliflblltlll.

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application flied March t9, 199i. aerial lto. elhlhltl?.

fo all whom it may concern:

he it lrnown that we, @iraniens d. @oniric- Loon and lacca 'U finestra,citizens ofthe United States, residing at lChicago, in the county oflUoolr and State of lllino-is, have invented new and useful lm rovementsin Pie flutters, of which the specification.

'l`his invention relates in general to'outcutter designed for cuttingies, calres, and other similar objects or artic es, into a number ofequal pieces.

lin restaurants, hotels, and other places where large numbers of piesmust be' cut daily, the time required to cut with a knife suoli a largenumber of ies is of considerable importance, and furt ermore, the piecesof pie cut with a lrnife are apt to be une ual in size unless a guide beemployed, and iurthermore, the out being made diametrically or radiallyof the pie, the crust isbrolren and the pleces present a rough andjagged apearance.

lll of the primary objects of our present invention is to provide acutter which, upon the actuation of an operating lever, will out apie,calre, or the like, simultaneously into the requisite number of pieces,thus greatly 'reducing the time which is customarily required to effectthis result.

Jhnother object of the invention is to pro- I vide a device in which thelznives will cu-t dll through the pie from top` to bottom instead ofradially or diametrically thereof, thus producing a clean cut withoutbreaking or otherwise injuring the crust so as to detract from thesmooth and attractive appearance of the pieces.

. il further object is to provide a device in which the cutting knivesare readily detachable so that they may be quickly cleaned and replaced,and may also be replacedby differently 4shaped knives for cutting piesof different sizes, or which are contained in differently shaped tins,plates, or containers.

Il. further feature of our invention resides in its simplicity ofconstruction, its cheapness of manufacture, its durability in use, andthe ease and rapidity with which it may be operated.

Other ob'ects and advantages of this invention wil be readilyappreciated, as the same becomes better understood, by reference to thefollowing description, when conollowing is ay sidered in connection withthe accompanying drawings.

Referring to the drawin s:

ling. lis a plan view of a pie cutter embodylng our invention; and

lfig. 2 is a side elevation thereof.

By reference to the drawings, it will be observed that the apparatuscomprises a base 3 in the form of a board or block of suitable uponwhich a plate or tin oontamirig the ple or cake to be cut, may be placed1 with upwar projecting uidin osts d rigidly secured to the base ldynutsgpand 6,

or other suitable fastening means. Between these posts, there isdisposed a carrying head comprising a disc 7 preferablyprovided with acircumferential u standing ange 9, and equipped with radially projectingarms 9 riveted or soldered to the upper face of the disc, these armsbeing upturned, as indicated at l1, and their extremities bent inwardlyat 12 and the portions 9 and l2'being provided with aligned. aperturesadapted to slidinglyfit the posts 4l whereby the head is slidably butsecurely mounted upon the posts.

rlhe central portion ofthe disc may be cut away, as indicated byreference character i3, and preferably, the two arms 9 are integrallyconnected by an upstanding yoke or bail ll adapted to be engaged by ahand lever l5 pivoted upon a bolt 16, carried by a pair of y standardsi9, which are mounted on the base 3 `near one side thereof. By ressingdownwardly upon the free end of t e lever 15, tho head will vobviouslybe forced downwardly, `being guided in its movements by the posts. l.The under side of mythe disc is equipped with a plurality of lrnlifeholders 19, these holders being riveted or otherwise secured to theunder face of the' disc, and each comprising a channel-shaped memberhaving a longitudinally extending slot in its lower face ofsubstantially the width of the knife blades to b'e carried in theholders. rlhese holders are radially arranged on the disc, andv anydesired number may be employed, although in the present instance, wehave shown five adapted to cut a pie into five pieces.

l similar number of cutting blades 2l is employed, each blade beingprovided at its upper edge with a` mlm-shaped supporting poi-- 'lhisbase is providedv at each side tion 22vada ted to slidably engage in `aIt will be apparent from 'the foregoiny holder 19. he inner edges 23 ofthe blades are inclined toward a common center so that their points aredisposed in proximity to each other, as shown in Fig. 2, and theircutting edges each comprise a straight line portion 24 of substantiallythe same length as the radius of the bottom of the pie tin, a vurvedportion 25 conforming to the curvature of thepie tin fiange, and a shortstraight portion 26 adapted to engage the marginalflange of the tin. Itwill be apparent therefore, that the contour of the cutting edge of eachblade conforms substantially to the contour of the pie tin so that whenthe blade is forced downwardly into the tin, it will cut the bottomcrust from the center of the pie to the margin overlying the flange ofthe tin.

Since the cutting blades are merely slid longitudinally into theirrespective holders, it will be vmanifest that they are detachablycarried thereby and may be quickly and easil removed for washing, andmay be readily replaced. Furthermore, to adapt the machine for pies ofvarious sizes, blades of different lengths may be supplied with l eachmachine, and one set of blades may be removed and replaced by anotherfor cutting different sized pies. Obviously, also, the shape of thecutting edges of the blades may be varied to conform to pie tins ofdifferent contours.

The head, with the knives carried thereby, is normally retained in theelevated position shown in Fig. 2 by a plurality of coiled expansionsprings 27 surrounding the posts 4 between the base and the arms 9, sothat normally, the head is retained in-the elevated position to permit apie to be positioned under the head.

that we have provided a device by whic ples can be quickly, smoothly andeconomically cut. In order to ,cut a pie, it is only necessary to placethe same on the base beneath the cutter head and depress the outer endof the operating lever, thus forcin the knives downwardly through thepie from top to bottom, cutting vit into the desired number of ieces atone movement. Upon release of t e lever, the springs return the parts tonormal osltion, whereupon the pie may be slid of rom the base andreplaced by another.

It is believed that our invention, its con'- struction, mode ofoperation, and many of its advantages will be understood and appreciatedfrom the foregoing without further description, and obviously, thedetails of construction shown and described may be varied within widelimits without exceeding the sco e of the invention, as defined in theappen ed claim.

We claim:

In a pie cutter, the combination with a base, of a pair of verticalstandards projecting upwardly from said base, a slidable head mounted onsaid standards, said head including a horizontally disposed disk, radialknife holders carried by said disk, knives detachably supported b saidholders and projecting toward said ase, springs surrounding thestandards and normally urging said disk upwardly, an upri ht disposed atone side of the isk, a han le ivoted to said upright, and a yokecarried) by said disk and projecting. thereabove adapted to be engagedby said handle tolower the disk against the tension of said coil srings.

CHARLES J. SCHIPP CK. JACOB C. KESSLER. f

